


The Stickmin Siblings: Breaking the Bank

by VioletReaper



Series: The Stickmin Series [1]
Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: Cally is a Genius, Gen, Henry Stickmin Series: Breaking The Bank, Henry's Sister's name is Cally Stickmim, Mentioned Terrence Suave, Selectively Mute Henry Stickmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27511378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletReaper/pseuds/VioletReaper
Summary: Henry and Cally Stickmin have been dealt a pretty cruddy hand in life. Their parents are dead, they have no living relatives, and no one wanted to adopt them because Henry's a kleptomaniac and Cally's antisocial. Now the siblings have a chance to strike it rich by robbing a bank on the outskirts of town. Question is, how to get inside...?And then how to break out of jail later.
Relationships: Henry Stickmin & Original Character(s)
Series: The Stickmin Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2011117
Comments: 10
Kudos: 29





	1. Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry and his little Sister plan a heist!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who's curious, Cally basically looks like Ellie but a few inches shorter since she's only 19. She has long chocolate brown hair that she keeps in tightly braided pigtails. She has heterochromatic eyes, one blue the other green. As for sense of style, she goes for an "urban goth" look, mixing frilly and lacy dresses and skirts with leather biker jackets and heavy boots.
> 
> Her favorite color is baby-blue and her birthday is December 11th.

Henry Stickmin sighed as he retrieved a couple sodas from the barely functioning refrigerator and brought one to his little sister in the living room before cracking open his own and starting to chug. Another day, another skimpy paycheck from the minimum wage job he had. "Bro, I know your vocal chords are pretty much shot, but you're just gonna hurt 'em worse if you keep chugging your soda like that," Cally Stickmin reminded her older brother, sipping her drink with much more grace. "Seriously. Slow down."

Henry was forced to pause and swallow what was already in his mouth in smaller amounts, turning a very large gulp into three small ones as his throat burned in protest. He winced, before signing to his little sis: _"Yep, I regret that. I am so regretting that right now."_

"Mhm." Cally hummed in agreement before closing her emerald and sapphire eyes and taking another small sip of the off-brand soda.

Henry sat down beside the 19-year-old, not bothering to acknowledge the rather ominous groan the old piece of furniture made. They seriously needed to replace it, along with everything else in their crappy apartment, but even with both of them working, they barely made enough to keep the bills paid and food on the table.

It wasn't always this bad, though. There had been a time, years ago now, when the two of them had an ideal childhood. They had a loving mom and dad, went to a good school, and lived in the suburbs with a ton of friends. Then, when Henry was 10 and Cally was 7, a random guy just fell out of the sky and onto their front lawn. He was badly injured, but lucid enough to tell them his name: Terrence Suave. Their parents fixed him up, since their dad was a doctor, and offered to let him stay in the guest room until he could get back on his feet.

It worked out okay for a couple weeks. Terrence seemed like a decent person and was always happy to entertain the two siblings with stories of daring heists. He was even the first one in the house to recognize that Henry's constant urges to nick anything that sparkled just right was kleptomania (and that he had the potential to become a master thief) as well as Cally's talent for mechanical engineering. But the day after he was healed up enough to leave, he showed his true colors.

Cally had woken up around 2 a.m. for a glass of water, only to get a strong feeling that something was very wrong. She'd silently slipped into Henry's room and woken him, insisting something was up. Henry was a smart boy and knew to never doubt his sister's instincts, so he followed her to their parents' room, only to find the door wide open.

Their parents never did that.

Peeking inside, they saw their parents still asleep in bed while Terrence rummaged through their belongings, not being particularly quite about it either. There was a suitcase on the floor half filled with the few valuables he'd found, and at once, it was obvious that he was robbing them.

Thinking quickly, Cally had grabbed a rather weighty decorative perfume bottle made from cut crystal that the deceptive bastard hadn't noticed somehow and chucked it at his head. It connected with a sickening _CRACK!_ and Terrence dropped like a ton of bricks. Henry had raced to his dad's side and tried to wake him, only to realize neither parent was breathing. He shook his father as hard as he could, slapped him in the face, even tried getting on the bed and jumping up and down to jostle the two of them awake. Nothing.

Cally had told him to go call the cops while she made sure Terrence stayed down, and that's exactly what the boy did. When the cops and an ambulance showed up, the paramedics pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Stickmin dead, suffocated in their sleep by Terrence. As for the man himself, the perfume bottle had hit him hard enough to cause permanent brain damage, and he died on the way to the hospital.

Cally was never charged, as Terrence Suave was on the most-wanted list and it had been done in defense of herself and her brother. They were placed in protective custody while CPS searched for any relatives that could take them in, but it was a waste of time. Their grandparents were long dead, and they had no aunts or uncles. They were the last of the Stickmin bloodline. So they wound up at an orphanage three towns south, and for 8 years, that's where they stayed. Nobody seemed to want both of them, just one or the other. The ladies who ran the place often scolded Henry for stealing, and Cally's newfound hostility toward anyone other than Henry certainly didn't help. It helped even less when some of the bigger kids decided to shove Henry down into an anthill and hold his mouth open directly over the opening. Thus the selective mutism. So the day Henry turned 18, he adopted his sister and got them outta there, and they both worked whatever odd jobs they could once the inheritance ran out.

Now, three years later, they sat in a crummy apartment drinking barely cold off-brand soda on a dying couch, wishing Terrence Suave had never dropped into their lives.

 _"So, how's that thing you've been working on coming?"_ Henry signed with his free hand.

"The teleporter?" The young adult asked for confirmation. Henry nodded with a small smile. "Eh... It's a little hit-or-miss right now," she replied, making the so-so gesture with her left hand. "It's a lot harder than that Pokeball I made from scraps stolen from the government, or that force-gun, or the opacitator or the dupilcatorange."

Henry gave a soft chuckle under his breath. _"I still have no idea how you get these things to work."_

"An IQ higher than Einstein's and sheer will." Cally replied with a grin. "That tech school was foolish to deny me a full scholarship." Henry nodded in agreement. So what if Cally's inventions were a little impossible sounding? They _worked!_ Wasn't that the important thing? His sister was turning science fiction into science fact, and if a government-funded school was too stupid not to throw money at her, well it was their loss.

They lapsed into silence for a moment or two, barely paying attention to the news on TV, when a sudden broadcast caught their attention.

"Breaking news," the anchorwomen said. "A new branch of Mesa Bank will be opening its doors tomorrow morning at nine a.m. on the outskirts of town. This bank will serve largely as a vault for the excess cash from the rest of the banks in town."

Henry and Cally both tuned out the lady's words as matching grins spread over their faces. The elder looked at his sister and signed a question: _"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"_

Four different thoughts came to mind: **New Furniture, Dinner, Do Crime,** and **Nope.** Logically, she chose- "We're gonna rob that bank," she replied with an excited grin before getting up off the couch. "I'm gonna pack some gadgets, then we can get started on dinner," she said as she hurried to get ready. "Ya want pizza or mac and cheese?"

Henry rapped his knuckles against the coffee table three times, which, knowing Henry, translated simply to **YES.** Cally laughed happily in reply. "Okay, macaroni pizza it is!" It was only Henry's favorite food since they were kids.

While Cally carefully added what tech they might need to her brother's pack, Henry got out the pizza dough from the fridge and started boiling a pot of water for the mac and cheese. He was looking forward to tomorrow.

As he sat back down on the couch to wait for the water to come to a rolling boil, the aforementioned crap couch gave a sickening creek, and Henry had just enough time to throw himself off before the thing basically imploded.

Cally stuck her head out her bedroom door to see what had happened, visibly deflating when she saw the mangled corpse their couch had become. "Note to self: get a new couch with some of the cash."

Henry could only nod vigorously in agreement.


	2. Options Aplenty...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But only one works.

Mesa Bank was an intimidating fortress of a vault: with walls thick enough to withstand the impact of a fully loaded semi-truck, a heavy steel gate, a single entrance, and armed guards, it was considered to be the most secure bank vault in the state. A testimony to what the Government was willing to do to protect so much money.

That, of course, did nothing to deter the Stickmin Siblings. Standing in the shadow of the bank, Henry put a hand to his chin, mulling over how to break in undetected while Cally rummaged through one of her greatest inventions: the Purse of Holding. While it looked like nothing more than a nondescript purse on the outside, it could hold an infinite number of objects of any size and weight, making it ideal for heists like this one. Best of all? It could be shrunk down to the size of a coin purse, and no one would be the wiser!

_"Alright, sis,"_ Henry signed. _"What do I have to work with?"_

"Let's see..." the girl said as she riffled through the Purse of Holding. "I brought the **teleporter** , a **laser drill,** one of the sacks the bank puts money in for a **disguise** , the keys to a **wrecking ball** , a **shovel** , and some **explosives**. Like, a ton of explosives. Enough to blow just about anything to Kingdom Come."

The selectively mute thief looked at his sister strangely. _"Why so much?"_

"The schematics show the wall is pretty thick," Cally explained. "And behind the concrete is three inches laminated glass, followed by six inches of steel vault. Bringing in the big guns sounded like a good idea."

Henry nodded in acceptance. Cally always did her homework when it came to this stuff.

They had a choice.

Standing behind an old chunk of a conveniently placed wall, Henry watched as Cally set up the explosives. She hadn't been lying when she said she brought a lot of them. Where did she's even get that much TNT?!

... He decided not to question it. Things like logic and physics only seemed to halfway apply to them, anyway.

"Okay, that should do it," the girl said, quickly ducking behind the section of wall with him. She handed him a detonator. "Let's blow this money stand!"

With a grin that matched his sister's, Henry pushed the button and slapped his hands over his ears...

... and nothing happened.

The two of them peeked out from their cover and stared at the mass of explosives. Not even a spark. Henry pushed the button again. Nada. They both got up and went to inspect the fuses to see what was wrong-

_**BOOM!!** _

**FAIL!**

**Handle with care.**

Henry and Cally looked at the pile of explosives warily, then shared a glance with each other than clearly said "Yeah... No." before Henry dug his hand into the Purse of Holding. His fingers closed around the recognizable handle of the shovel, and he brought it out of the bag with a a victorious grin, making his sister chuckle in amusement.

He dug the blade into the dry, sandy earth and began to dig straight down with incredible speed. "Uh, bro...?" Ya might wanna stop!" Cally called down, peering into the hole. A faint metallic _clank!_ echoed up to her. "What is it?"

Down in the hole, Henry clicked on his lighter to see what he'd hit, peering at a metal pipe with a crack in it made by his shovel. The pipe was labelled "GAS MAIN".

"Shit-"

_**BOOOM!** _

**FAIL!**

**Never dig straight down.**

The siblings glanced at the shovel and then each other. "Yeah... Bad idea." Cally said simply, to which Henry nodded vigorously. She reached into the Purse and brought out the Teleporter.

_"I thought that thing wasn't ready?"_ Henry signed in confusion.

"Well I _do_ need to test it in the field so I know what improvements to make," his little sister reminded him. "Figured now was as good a time as any."

Henry carefully took the device in hand and punched in his desired coordinates. His sister watched with bated breath as he warped and vanished...

...only to reappear trapped in the wall of the bank. He struggled for a moment before realizing it was hopeless and glared at the young lady, who could only grin and rub her arm nervously.

**FAIL!**

**It's emergent technology. I'm sure it'll get better.**

Cally and Henry both glared at the device before the former put it back in the Purse of Holding. "Ya know what? Maybe next time," she said. "After I've had more time to work on it."

_"What does that leave us with?"_ The latter asked.

"The **laser drill,** the **wrecking ball,** and the **disguise.** " Cally replied.

_"Let's go with the laser drill."_ The usually silent thief signed before picking up the device and aiming at the wall in front of him.

Quick as a flash, the laser drill cut a huge hole in the wall. The Stickmin Siblings grinned, ready to push it down and loot the place, only for the cut section of wall to collapse on them, squashing them like a couple of bugs.

**FAIL!**

**Open Sesame.**

The two of them shivered as they stared at the drill. "Maybe the wrecking ball?" Cally suggested. It didn't take long to locate the machine they were looking for, and in a matter of minutes they were in the cab and driving toward the bank.

_"This is a great idea,"_ Henry signed with a smug grin. _"I see zero chance of this failing!"_

"Hee hee hee," Cally chuckled wickedly, the words _"I came in like a WRECKING BALL!"_ playing in her head. She was just about to pull the lever and send the massive ball of steel crashing through the wall when a whistle caught her attention.

The Stickmin Siblings glanced out the window to see one of the guards frowning at them behind his shades. He gave them a full shrug, then jabbed his thumb in the opposite direction of the bank. A very clear _"What the hell? Get outta here!"_

**FAIL!**

**There's no construction planned here for today.**

"Okay, so that leaves us with the No-Tech option," Cally sighed in disappointment. She really wanted at least one of her inventions to work, but held up the money sack anyway. "The disguise. This only has room for one of us, and since you're the better thief..." She held it out to Henry.

With a determined nod, Henry climbed into the sack, pulling the top over his head. Cally quickly tied it and hid behind the random wall, ready to come to her brother's aid if something went wrong. They didn't have to wait for long before an armored bank truck drove past, stopped, and reversed back to where the "abandoned" bag of cash laid beside the road.

The driver and passenger both got out of the truck and walked right up to the bag, and Cally strained her ears to catch their conversation. "How did we lose one?" The driver asked, sounding so very confused.

"I think we should throw it in the back," the mustachioed guard replied, gesturing to the truck. "Just to be safe."

It took everything the young inventor had not to break into laughter at how gullible these plebes were, lest she give away her position and ruin everything. Henry, still disguised as money, was tossed none too gently into the truck, and within the space of a few minutes was inside the vault.

Not two minutes later, the piercing wail of the alarms filled the empty desert air, filling the young Stickmin with dread. "Shitshitshit!" She cursed, taking the Teleporter from the Purse and inputting the exact coordinates for home, her brother's instructions ringing in her ears because it was the first time he'd used his voice since his birthday a few months ago:

_"If the heist goes bad, run. Even if I get caught, get back here. Figure something out."_

Henry rarely used his voice because it caused him horrible pain to do so. He saved his voice for when it really mattered. So despite the all-consuming _need_ to run in there and bust her brother out by any means necessary, she did the only thing she could...

And fled.


	3. Planning for Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if the cake wasn't an anomaly from the Center for Chaos Control, but an ingenious "gift" from Cally?
> 
> Also Cally has a mental breakdown and does what she always does in those situations: hides and sings herself hoarse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song is called "Constant as The Stars Above" and is from Barbie as Rapunzel. Yes, I was, and to an extent still am, a Barbie fan as a kid and this is still my go-to lullaby. Check it out on YouTube or watch the movie if you're into it.

Cally reappeared in their apartment in a flash of light, luckily not stuck in a wall or something. She set the delicate piece of tech on the coffee table and stalked off to her room, where she promptly face-planted into the pillows on her second-hand twins bed and _screamed._ This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to go! They were supposed to hit the jackpot, not end up separated by iron and concrete!

The girl's screams soon became horse and choked as the lump in her throat turned them into wails of frustration, worry, and a visceral fear she hadn't felt since the moment she realized their parents were dead and nothing could bring them back. Rationally, logically, she knew her brother was still alive and well. He was just behind bars. Or would be, within the hour. But the distinct lack of his presence in the apartment, and the feeling of safety she got just knowing he was there... It was too much like the murder of their parents all over again.

Following an instinct she'd developed back at the orphanage, Cally got off the bed and went over to the closest where she kept the few memorial keepsakes of her parents: her mother's perfume bottle that she'd killed Terrence Suave with - it still had the blood stains on it after all these years - her father's toy lightsaber - Mace Windu's since he liked the unique purple blade - and held them tightly to her chest. She then went into Henry's room and snagged the bedazzled mirror brush he'd stolen way back when they were kids. With tears welling in her eyes, she returned to her room and hid in the crawlspace under her bed.

Quietly, she began to sing the lullaby her mother always sang to her when she had a bad dream. _"Constant as the stars above, always know that you are loved / And my love shining in you, will help to make your dreams come true / Will help your dreams come true."_

As she sang, she carefully opened her mother's perfume bottle. It was the kind that, rather than spraying yourself to apply it, used a thin glass or crystal rod to dab a tiny amount of the scented liquid directly onto your skin. Such bottles didn't hold much, so it was easier to use it sparingly. She reached out to the well-loved stuffed dragon that lived under the bed and carefully dabbed two drops of the sweet-smelling perfume onto its head, then closed it back up to keep the piddly little amount safe.

_"The lamb lies down and rests its head, on its mother's downy bed / Dolphins play in a moonlit glow, and butterfly dreams of a violet rose / dreams of a violet rose."_

Her hand moved next to the hilt of her father's lightsaber, and when she clicked it on, it gave off the familiar purple glow and hum. Its original batteries were long dead by now, but she replaced them every single time. Even if it meant a little less ramen on the table. And nothing short of death was going to change her mind. With the scent of her mother's perfume and the sound and glow of her father's lightsaber, it was almost like she was seven years old again.

_"I'll cradle you in my arms tonight, as sun embraces the moonlight / The clouds will carry us off tonight, our dreams will run deep like the sea / Our dreams will run deep like the sea._

_"Constant as the Stars Above, Always know that you are loved / And my love shining in you, will help you make your dreams come true /Will help... Your dreams... Come... True..."_

* * *

Cally wasn't sure how long she'd been singing before she lulled herself to sleep, but when she woke up it was darker in her room, maybe sunset, and the lightsaber had gone out again. She carefully sniffed her stuffed dragon's head and found it still gave off a decent scent. As much as she would've loved to stay where she was, she knew that would be stupid. Her left shoulder and hip ached from lying on the unforgiving floor for who knows how long, her mouth and throat felt as dry as the New Mexico desert, and her stomach growled like a starving and desperate coyote who had just spotted a tasty-looking desert hare.

Dragging herself out of the crawlspace, she carefully hid the stuffed dragon back in its place, then went about returning the perfume bottle and lightsaber to their home in the closet and Henry's brush to his room exactly where he left it. Glancing at the alarm clock before leaving his room, she groaned in annoyance. "5:50 p.m.? Seriously?" With another groan, she headed for the kitchen to have nuke some leftover Mac 'n Cheese pizza. Along with a glass of milk... Assuming the fridge hadn't died and the milk hadn't spoiled.

Thankfully, the fridge was still fighting for its life and the milk still smelled alright and tasted okay. After slicing herself a square of the strange combo food and sticking it into the microwave to heat up, she began to go over her next move. By now, Henry was probably sitting in a cell, awaiting her assistance in breaking out. There was only one major prison in a six mile radius of the bank, so at least she had an idea of where her brother was. The next step was figuring out how to bust him out.

As she took the now perfectly hot slice of pizza out of the mic and sat down to eat, a few ideas were already buzzing like angry wasps in her head. The teleporter? Why not? The classic file? Also had merit. A call to their favorite lawyer? That sounded promising. A few more ideas came to her as she cut a second slice and got it heating up. She'd been working on a super powerful energy potion that could potentially allow her brother to move so fast it would seem as if time itself had slowed to a halt within three seconds of consumption. She wasn't sure of the side-effects or how long it would last, but it was worth a shot. She also had a drill and a rocket launcher. Both sounded pretty fun.

But how to get all that stuff to Henry...?

As she looked into the fridge to find some dessert, the half-eaten cake caught her eye. Inspiration hit her like a bag of sledgehammers, and rather than finish her meal, she hurried to her room and got straight to work, the sounds of a power drill and soldering iron and a hammer echoing late into the night...

In the end, it took 12 whole hours to finish it, but she was quite proud of her handiwork. A very convincing looking cake sat in front of her, decorated with pink icing and blue details, two blue candles sitting happily on top. But under all that was a titanium container designed to only respond to Henry. Within it was the Teleporter, an NrG drink in a Gatorade bottle, the rocket launcher, a heavy duty file, a cell phone with their lawyer's number, and the drill. On top she placed a handwritten note to her brother, then closed it up and packaged it. On the side of the box she wrote down the delivery address (no return address, obviously) and then crashed for ten hours. The easy part, building the thing, was over. Once she took it down to the post office though, the hardest part, the waiting, would begin.

As soon as the post office opened, Cally dropped off the package. By now Henry had been in the clink for roughly a day and a half. With a little luck, he'd be out in a few hours.

"Now to go home and await his triumphant return," she said to herself. "Or the court date. Whichever comes first."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that, ladies, gents, and nons, is just the beginning! As we speak, I'm working on the next story: "The Stickmin Siblings: Escaping the Prison", as well as some one-shot stories for a side-series called "The Stickmin Siblings are at it Again!" Which will contain various antics of both siblings and ones of just one or the other at various points in the series. Something to look forward to in January!
> 
> Also, I know this chapter was comparatively short, but so was Breaking the Bank. Don't worry, Escaping the Prison will be longer!


End file.
